09/17/2026
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The Trump administration is planning to send 40,000 powerful bombs – each weighing 2,000lbs (907kg) – to Israel, as part of a vast arms deal worth $2.8bn (£2.1bn).
The package includes 20,000 MK-84 general purpose bombs and 20,000 thermally-coated BLU-117s variants, along with I-2000 Penetrator warheads, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday.
It is reportedly the biggest single sale of 2,000lb bombs in recent years.
MK-84s create an explosion that “sends metal fragments in every direction for thousands of feet, can rip through metal and thick concrete, and often creates large craters in the earth”, according to the Post.
Action on Armed Violence notes that MK-84s can “blow apart buildings and kill and injure people hundreds of metres from the point of detonation”.
Israel has used 2,000lb bombs hundreds of times in its attacks on Gaza and Lebanon, including in areas the IDF said were safe for civilians.
The arms package will be largely paid for through foreign military financing, whereby US taxpayers provide money to Israel to buy American-made weapons.
Gregory Meeks, a senior democrat on the congressional committee that reviews weapons deals, said he would oppose the sale over concerns that they will not be used by Israel in line with US and international law.
Meeks described the munitions as “some of the most destructive in our arsenal”.
However, Trump could bypass congress by declaring the sale an emergency, as his administration has done with previous arms sales to Israel.
The Biden administration blocked one shipment of MK-84s in 2024, citing concerns about civilian casualties, after sending thousands of them to Israel in the early months of the genocide in Gaza.
Trump lifted the shipment pause when he returned to office last year.
It comes as Israel’s government faces increasing isolation on the international stage. Earlier this month, 12 countries including the UK announced they were imposing sanctions on Israeli settlements in the illegally occupied West Bank. Other countries have previously restricted arms sales to Israel, due to the ongoing genocide on Gaza.
There are signs that American voters increasingly disapprove of Trump’s handling of Israel and Palestine. A new poll published Tuesday gave Democrats an 11-point lead over Republicans on the question of who would handle the issue better.
Sections of Trump’s Maga base have also become disenfranchised over the president’s handling of the issue.
Vice-president JD Vance claimed on Tuesday that despite the arms deal, US Middle East policy would not be “subservient” to Israel.
Since October 2023, Israel has killed at least 73,000 Palestinians in Gaza – including 21,000 children. Despite a ‘ceasefire’ coming into force in October last year, Israel has continued to kill Palestinians in Gaza, violating the ceasefire more than 4,000 times with near-daily attacks.
